Shorecrest Grad Wins Prestigious Hertz Fellowship
Source/Author: Ayana Stewart, Times Staff Writer
June 18, 2015
A 23-year-old University of California, Berkeley student from St. Petersburg has been chosen for a $250,000 fellowship by the Hertz Foundation.
Max Rabinovich graduated from Shorecrest Preparatory School in 2009. He went on to Princeton University, where he studied mathematics, and the University of Cambridge, where he studied information engineering.
Hertz Foundation President Jay Davis said the program has a rigorous applicant process and is very competitive, drawing in hundreds of applicants each term. The foundation picked 12 students this year.
Related story by Hertz Foundation: http://www.hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellow_profile.aspx?d=11277
Max is also supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
"They're exceptionally good and exceptionally creative people," he said.
The fellowship lasts five years and is given to Ph.D. students in physical, biological and engineering sciences. Winners receive full tuition, a stipend and research funding. Rabinovich is a first-year computer science doctoral student at Berkeley.
The Times chatted with Rabinovich and asked him about the award and his future plans.
What is your research focus?
Developing intelligent systems that could help people and augment human thought and reasoning. I'm particularly interested in very structured and complex learning problems.
What set you apart from other applicants?
I've had the good fortune to be advised by a lot of really smart people. I definitely think that as a kid and when I was in high school, my parents both encouraged me a lot to pursue interesting questions.
What's the most rewarding thing about this fellowship?
I can just work on whatever I'm interested in (due to the financial award). The other big thing is being connected to the other fellows and having opportunities for collaboration.
What do you do when you aren't studying?
In my free time, my biggest hobby is long-distance running. Other than that, it's much more unstructured. I dabble in cooking, reading philosophy and traveling.
What's next for you?
What I see myself doing is becoming a professor who is very involved in industry and research and putting a big emphasis on figuring out what kind of artificial intelligence tools people need.
Full story: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/shorecrest-grad-wins-prestigious-hertz-fellowship/2234191
Throwback story: http://www.tampabay.com/news/wimauma-teens-math-model-earns-trip-to-dc/983106
Full story: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/shorecrest-grad-wins-prestigious-hertz-fellowship/2234191
Throwback story: http://www.tampabay.com/news/wimauma-teens-math-model-earns-trip-to-dc/983106
Related story by Hertz Foundation: http://www.hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellow_profile.aspx?d=11277
Max is also supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
